I was vegan for 6 years and...

[HGL91]

Here's some pros and cons, but mostly cons if you're thinking about using it to fight depression.

Pros

It temporarily kept me in a bubble of believing there were people that cared about something other than themselves.

Never constipated, and felt light and energetic after a meal.

Cons

Doctors blamed veganism no matter what issue I had.

Missed food that was nostalgic to me.

Expensive if I wanted to eat right without vitamin deficiencies.

Always shunned by other vegans for not being vegan enough.

I gained weight while eating plant-based (vegan), then lost weight being vegetarian.


Pro and Con is that I always felt hungry. If I wanted to eat a big meal, cool. If I was trying to focus on work or errands or physical exercise, it was such an inconvenience.



Also, it didn't affect my mood positively or negatively.

 

[Donewith_]

I went vegan for some time. For various reasons.. I again take dairy, eggs..
I am a ovo-lacto vegetarian.
I used to take more protien based diet..i lost weight at that time actually.. and i could observe the change..
But i did not care too much about my diet and did not care if i am getting enough nutrients in my diet.. because of which i felt weak.
But if you take good care of yourself.. there would be no problem with this lifestyle i guess.
It suprised me that you faced that thing from other vegans..doesn't sound good tho.

 

[burnedCookie]

Went vegan for 2 years.

Pro

Thinking that you belong to a community of people that really believe in something greater than themselves definitely help for a while and gives the feeling of having found an identity, a family.

Cons

I didn't want to eat the vegan junk food that you can find everywhere, there is even more shit in there, so I stuck with basic products.
I had to eat tons of stuff just to avoid loosing too much weight, even after two years I was still bloated as hell for hours after every meal.

I lost 10 kg in a short time, and I was already pretty thin before that. I am a burner so it was impossible for me to keep a normal weight eating like that.

I didn't help for depression or any other mental or physical issue, I don't think it made it worse tough.

But the main reason that made me quit was the online community. Lots of them are definitely just judgmental and hateful little human beings, they don't try to help you, they just drag you down. The only answers you'll get when something goes wrongs are "you didn't do it well" or " you aren't vegan enough" "you are a fake"

When you start to really believe that your poo smells better than others and that people who aren't vegan are just uneducated and stupid then something is wrong.

Anyway I was deep in my own shit, depression was getting worse so I just couldn't care about anything anymore.
But I still don't eat meat or dairy products at all though. I eat eggs and fish only.

 

[oopswronglife]

I've been fairly flexitarian for a while...too hard to go full veg or vegan with the access I have to fresh shopping...but the last couple weeks I've fallen into bad habits eating sweets and in the middle of the night again etc....i've not done it for years but I've felt so bad it just happens. I imagine I am getting a little taste of how people who chronically overeat and comfort eat feel. Today is day one of back to decent eating...I hope...because I am sleeping even worse and feeling worse than usual.